Connect with us on Facebook

Blog

Can You Pass an 8th Grade Reading Test?

The man who made history in 2004 by winning 74 consecutive rounds of Jeopardy wasn’t able to figure out the short story presented to eighth graders across New York during a reading exam this past April. The story, which has gone down in infamy (it even has its own Facebook page), involves a talking pineapple that challenges a hare to a race and is subsequently eaten by all the animals in the forest. The moral of the story? Pineapples don’t have sleeves. If you’re confused, you’re not alone.

The New York Daily Newspresented Jennings with the question. "Is this a joke?” he asked, “The story makes no sense whatsoever. The narrative has no internal logic, the ‘moral' is unclear, and the plot details seems so oddly chosen that the story seems to have been written during a peyote trip ... A ninja and toothpaste? What does that even mean?"

The story caused an uproar among students, parents and teachers as they struggled to figure out exactly what it meant. This was a high-stakes exam, and one parent, Leonie Haimson, told the Daily News that she reacted with horror "that a question that’s so obviously confusing should be used on a test that is going to be used to determine our kid’s future and the future of our children’s schools.” Students were concerned about how the confusing questions would affect their scores, and by extension, their possible placement in high school.

The test was written by Pearson Publishing, which entered into a $32 million contract with New York State to create new exams that weren’t as “predictable” or “easy to pass” as existing exams. As teachers and principals are now evaluated based at least partially on students’ test scores, these new tests have severe implications for everyone involved. According to the NYC Public School Parents Blog, Pearson has recycled this exact story for at least seven years, baffling test-takers in Florida, Illinois, Delaware, New Mexico, Arkansas and Alabama.

But the pineapple won’t stop talking. Though New York Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. said the questions would not be scored following the outrage, parents and students are still questioning the standards of state testing. Though testing ended in April, third through eighth graders were subject to two more weeks of “field-testing” in June: a way for Pearson to test potential questions on students. The tests don’t count, but more than 1 million students in 1,000 schools are still subjected to the rigor of the whole process.

Students and parents have begun petitioning Pearson and the state to call for an end to field-testing. Beginning on June 7, students stood outside Pearson headquarters in Midtown Manhattan to protest, with many of them flaunting pineapple-themed T-shirts and signs.

"She's already taken nine hours of standardized tests over a two-week period," one parent told NY1 about his daughter. One third grader told the station, “They're just trying to use our brains like we're lab rats."

Many opponents of high-stakes tests believe this may be the tipping point for building a movement against standardized testing. As the boycott continues to gain momentum, Pearson only claims it is working to “address these issues and make sure that none of these problems re-occur." The state is behind Pearson and says that testing isn’t going away.

5 Responses

Pearson writes the MTEL (Massachusetts Test for Education Licensure), and you can image the type of round about, ridiculous questions people see on a standardized test that’s suppose to score whether a teacher can teach. Personally, I think all a bit much that students and teachers alike have to pass some kind of bubble test just to show their academic abilities. I’m sure there are better ways to measure these things. Additionally, what about students who don’t do well on tests? If a high school student can’t pass a state mandated standardized test, simply due to test anxiety or a different learning style, that student could suffer the consequence of not graduating. It’s absurd.

High-stakes testing is absurd and pushes teachers to teach to the test at the expense of critical thinking and other 21st century skills. Did you know that in Finland, ALL students are NEVER tested? Even the International test that they rank so high on is only given to a random sample of students. High-stakes testing stifles true education and fails to address the true issues of motivation to learn, 21st century skills of creativity, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration.

the problem with this particular test and its multiple choice responses is that the last question is bullshit. Within the story, the moose doesn’t ask anything regarding the Pineapple”s sleeves, he merely states that they don’t HAVE any. the last question is posed wrong and none of its multiple choice responses are relevant since the moose never ASKED a question. it made a statement. Who is the loser exactly in this little test? I’m annoyed since all questions posed must be answered and there is no field for explanations, explanations, such as the last question is unaswerable due to irrelevance based on it never having happened within the story!

Teach.com is a comprehensive resource for information on becoming a great teacher in any state across the country. It provides state specific information on how to become a teacher, teacher salaries, teaching credentials, teacher certification tests, alternative teacher certification, and much more. Our aim is to provide all the information necessary to become a teacher no matter where you live.